Airports
Air travel within and outside Germany is made easy by the large number of airports, both commercial/passenger and cargo spread across the country. There are also smaller airfields and airstrips used primarily for purposes of trade and general aviation.
A majority of the commercial airports are international. The traffic in terms of passengers and outbound & inbound flights is of course significantly higher in places like Frankfurt or Munich than in the smaller airports in cities like Hannover. The larger airports offer well over a 100 different airlines connecting hundreds of destinations.
Most commercial airports have both mainstream airlines as well as low cost airlines and some smaller ones even offer charter flights connecting popular summer holiday destinations. Several former military bases in Germany were later converted into commercial airports and the one at Hahn was among the first to offer low cost flights from budget airlines.
Larger airports are often also connected by rail lines, with express intercity train services to major airports like Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Cologne-Bonn and Stuttgart.
Many airports in Germany have their own websites. Here are links to just a couple that you may like to access for further information:
For more informations about
Frankfurt airport, please
click here.
For more informations about
Munich airport, please
click here.
For more informations about
Berlin airport (Berlin Tegel), please
click here.
For more informations about
Düsseldorf airport, please
click here.
Security regulations are much the same everywhere including the ban on sharp objects and fluids in your hand/cabin luggage. Busy airports like Frankfurt or Munich, operating many transatlantic flights tend to have more stringent security checks. It is therefore recommended that passengers report well before departure especially at these airports. You are sure to find duty free shops, restaurants, car rental services, banks, post offices and medical facilities in most German airports. Most also have hotels within or adjacent to the airport compounds.
Railways
The super-fast InterCity Express (ICE) trains operated by the Deutsche Bahn make it possible for passengers to shuttle across the country in high speeds. They link all major cities and are available every hour or 2 hours. Some ICE trains are international and have services to popular destinations like Switzerland, Belgium, France, Austria and Netherlands.
Other trains with similar standards operating both within and outside the country are referred to as InterCity (IC) trains and EuroCity (EC) trains respectively. There are also sleeper trains with economy and deluxe compartments known as CityNightLine (CNL) trains that usually connect cities with major airports and arrive before the first flight of the day leaves.
The trains are fast, clean, comfortable and offer special services for handicapped passengers or those travelling with infants. There are plug points for charging your devices if you should need to work on your laptop or smartphone. Prior reservation is recommended for all especially those who wish to avail of seats in the special handicapped or infant compartments.
The pricing is competitive and you could choose from the following special offers to avail of discounts and attractive fares – Sparpreis (Saver Price), Group Discounts, Länder-Tickets (Federal State Tickets), Quer-durch-Land Ticket (One-day Unlimited Ticket), Schönes-Wochenende Ticket (Happy Weekend Ticket). There are also 3 Bahn cards – BahnCard 25, 50 & 100 that get you discounts and are usually valid for a year from the date of issue. All relevant details are available on the Deutsche Bahn website.
For more information about the
Deutsche Bahn, please
click here.
The Eurailpass or the German Rail pass (details available at www.germanrailpasses.com) are great ways for tourists to explore Europe and Germany.
Bus/Coach Service & Ride-Share
If you are not driving yourself, but wouldn’t mind a ride across Germany’s renowned autobahn (federally controlled access highways) to get to your destination you could get yourself tickets for any one of these
bus services that suit your needs:
There are these and several others that are becoming increasingly popular because of the extremely affordable ticket fares they offer.
Another pocket-friendly and eco-friendly way of travelling is
ride-shares. You can travel as a passenger in a private car by just sharing the fuel costs with the driver. You could just log into one of the following websites ...
... to connect with a driver headed to your desired destination or advertise a ride yourself and take interested passengers with you.